Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention sends the wrong signal – not only to Europe, but especially to the women of Turkey.

Only a few weeks ago, President Erdogan presented a human rights action plan that seeks to combat, among other things, domestic violence and violence against women. The withdrawal from an important Council of Europeconvention on this issue calls into question how serious Turkey is about pursuing the goals set out in the action plan. One thing is clear: neither cultural, religious nor other national traditions should serve as a pretext for ignoring violence against women.